Montreal Canadiens forward Lars Eller didn't know what to expect from the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.

"It can be anything, you know? They play a little bit like a junior team, I think, sometimes," mused Eller after the Canadiens morning skate Tuesday.

"They take a lot of risks, a lot of chances. They're a little all over the place. There's not a lot of structure always in their game. It can really be anything. You don't know.

"I prefer a little more structured game. Then again, I don't mind high-scoring games, too. Obviously, we're going to try with their skilled players to limit their chances."

Well, Eller might have qualified that by saying the Oilers are a little bit like a pretty good junior team, at least after they erased a 2-0 Montreal lead with four goals as the Canadiens' own structure went somewhere down Avenue des Canadiens-de-Montreal in what turned out to be a 4-3 loss for the Habs.

"That was an inappropriate comment," said Canadiens coach Michel Therrien of Eller's breakdown of the Oilers.

"That's the nature of being in a market like this. You have to be careful what you say," said Canadiens captain Brian Gionta of Eller's comments. "What he was trying to say was they have a highly-skilled team that takes risks. You have to be patient against a team like that."

Thing is, Eller wasn't saying anything about the Oilers we all have been thinking or saying, except for maybe the junior part and except for the other part where we don't have to play against the Oilers.

He wasn't around after the game to comment on his comment.

The Canadiens were good for 20 minutes and then started handing out odd-man rushes to the Oilers like fruit baskets.

The Habs kept pointing to the fact they lost their third man high, opening the door for the Oilers to attack with numbers.

"We lost the momentum of the game, got on our heels and made plays we shouldn't," said Gionta. "Turnovers, pinches, bad changes, everything we kind have been getting away with and it caught up to us."

So now the injury-riddled Habs (not that the Oilers don't have their own problems) have lost two in a row and have two of the best teams from the Western Conference coming into the Bell Centre with the Anaheim Ducks and former Habs captain Saku Koivu visiting Thursday and the league-leading San Jose Sharks in on Saturday night.

The Canadiens record fell to 5-4 with the loss.

Canadiens goaltender Carey Price, who had stopped 140 of 146 shots in the previous four games and looked like he was getting some mometum, didn't have a great night.

Ales Hemsky beat him with what looked like a decent, but not extraordinary shot to open the scoring for the Oilers and then the Oilers took the lead on a couple of 2-on-1s with defencemen Ladislav Smid and Jeff Petry both jumping up in to the play.

"I think a lot of our guys know what happened. I think we could have had a better third man. It's small details that a good hockey team like that will jump on," said Price.

Price looked a little untidy on Ryan Jones' goal halfway through the third to make it 4-2 after Price dropped the puck and couldn't get his glove on it fast enough.

"I wasn't quite sure where it was and I don't think I had it covered," said Price.

The Oilers win came after the Canadiens looked like they had the game under control with that 2-0 lead and a few glittering chances, a couple of them set up by some dazzling skating and stickcraft by Habs defenceman P.K. Subban.

It's hard to believe Eller's comment was the difference between winning and losing -- it looked like a lot of this loss was self-inflicted for the Habs and I don't know what that has to do with Eller's comment -- but the Oilers were talking like they believed it and maybe that's all that matters.

Canadiens coach: Eller's comment on Oilers 'inappropriate'

Remark comes back to bite Montreal centre in loss to Edmonton

Montreal Canadiens forward Lars Eller didn't know what to expect from the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.

"It can be anything, you know? They play a little bit like a junior team, I think, sometimes," mused Eller after the Canadiens morning skate Tuesday.

"They take a lot of risks, a lot of chances. They're a little all over the place. There's not a lot of structure always in their game. It can really be anything. You don't know.

"I prefer a little more structured game. Then again, I don't mind high-scoring games, too. Obviously, we're going to try with their skilled players to limit their chances."

Well, Eller might have qualified that by saying the Oilers are a little bit like a pretty good junior team, at least after they erased a 2-0 Montreal lead with four goals as the Canadiens' own structure went somewhere down Avenue des Canadiens-de-Montreal in what turned out to be a 4-3 loss for the Habs.

"That was an inappropriate comment," said Canadiens coach Michel Therrien of Eller's breakdown of the Oilers.

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There wasn't much left of Daniel Briere's voice. The veteran Montreal Canadiens forward had been turned into a cheerleader, sitting on the Canadiens bench for most of the third period of their Game 7 victory over the Boston Bruins, cooling his heels despite having set up the crucial first goal two minutes into the game.